1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with railway hopper cars and specifically with a door latching mechanism.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art is replete with different latch arrangements for hopper car doors. The following patents exemplify the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 1,584,417, W. E. Wine, discloses a door locking mechanism of the hook type. Another U.S. Pat. No. 2,225,463, E. J. Rose, discloses a mine car door operating mechanism having a lock means coacting with the door holding to prevent the release of the doors. U.S. Pat. No. 2,286,958, W. M. Haessler, discloses a latch mechanism for drop bottom mine cars in which the doors open in sequence. Still another U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,768, Price, et al., discloses a door operating mechanism mounted on a hopper vehicle. The present invention is an improvement over these patents since it discloses a latch mechanism which permits a plurality of the devices for a plurality of doors to unlock in unison with relatively low release force required.